Dunellen Teacher Says She Was Fired After Taking Sick Days

DUNELLEN, NJ - A former Dunellen elementary school teacher is suing the school district there because she says she was improperly fired after taking time off to receive chemotherapy treatments. The teacher, Samantha Cihanowyz, was hired in 2012 as a special education teacher at John P. Faber Elementary School. She has multiple sclerosis and said she needed to leave early one day a month for five months to visit an oncologist for chemotherapy treatment, according to a report in NJ.com.

For each time she left early, she took a fraction of a sick day. Then, Cihanowyz said she was told by her doctors she needed two more chemotherapy treatments, and she got approval from principal Gary Lubisco to take more time off for her treatments.

However, when Cihanowyz returned to work after her second set of treatment sessions last April, she was fired. Cihanowyz said the Dunellen School Board told her the board was "going in different direction" and she eventually was told by interim Superintendent Pio Pennisi she "failed to grow as a teacher."

She would have been eligible for tenure a year before she was fired. The Dunellen school district did not respond when asked by NJ.com for a comment.